Pinus radiata grows to between 15–30 m in height in the wild, but up to 60 m in cultivation in optimum conditions, with upward pointing branches and a rounded top. The leaves ('needles') are bright green, in clusters of three (two in var. binata), slender, 8–15 cm long and with a blunt tip. The cones are 7–17 cm long, brown, ovoid (egg-shaped), and usually set asymmetrically on a branch, attached at an oblique angle. The bark is fissured and dark grey to brown.
It is closely related to Bishop Pine and Knobcone Pine, hybridizing readily with both species; it is distinguished from the former by needles in threes (not pairs), and from both by the cones not having a sharp spine on the scales.
Australia also has large P. radiata plantations (though they are less than 1% of the total forested area); so much so that many Australians are concerned by the resulting loss of native wildlife habitat. A few native animals, however, thrive on them, notably the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo which, although deprived of much of its natural diet by massive habitat alteration through clearing for agriculture, feeds on P. radiata seeds.
The Monterey Pine, Pinus radiata, family Pinaceae, also known as the Insignis Pine[1[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_radiata#cite_note-Moore2008-0|]]] or Radiata Pine is a species of pine native to the Central Coast of California.
Although Pinus radiata is extensively cultivated as a plantation timber in many temperate parts of the world.[2[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_radiata#cite_note-1|]]], it faces serious threats in its natural range[3[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_radiata#cite_note-2|]]].
[edit] Distribution
Pinus radiata is a species of pine native to Central Coast of California, in three very limited areas located in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties. It is also found as the variety Pinus radiata var. binata or Guadalupe Pine on Guadalupe Island, and a possibly separable P. radiata var./subspecies—ssp. cedrosensis on Cedros Island, both in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the northern Baja California Peninsula in Mexico.[edit] Description
Pinus radiata grows to between 15–30 m in height in the wild, but up to 60 m in cultivation in optimum conditions, with upward pointing branches and a rounded top. The leaves ('needles') are bright green, in clusters of three (two in var. binata), slender, 8–15 cm long and with a blunt tip. The cones are 7–17 cm long, brown, ovoid (egg-shaped), and usually set asymmetrically on a branch, attached at an oblique angle. The bark is fissured and dark grey to brown.It is closely related to Bishop Pine and Knobcone Pine, hybridizing readily with both species; it is distinguished from the former by needles in threes (not pairs), and from both by the cones not having a sharp spine on the scales.
[edit] Ecology and status
[edit] California
The forests in which Monterey Pine grows are associated with other characteristic flora and fauna of note. The only two forests in which Cupressus macrocarpa naturally occurs are located in coastal Monterey County, where P. radiata is a co-dominant overstory species.[4[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_radiata#cite_note-3|]]] Furthermore, one of the pine forests in Monterey, California was the discovery site for Hickman's potentilla, an endangered species. Piperia yadonii, a rare species of orchid is endemic to the same pine forest adjacent to Pebble Beach. Nearby in a remnant pine forest of Pacific Grove, is a prime wintering habitat of the Monarch butterfly.[5[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_radiata#cite_note-4|]]] .In the wild, the Monterey Pine proper is seriously threatened in California by an introduced fungal disease, Pine Pitch Canker, caused by Fusarium circinatum.
[edit] Australia
Australia also has large P. radiata plantations (though they are less than 1% of the total forested area); so much so that many Australians are concerned by the resulting loss of native wildlife habitat. A few native animals, however, thrive on them, notably the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo which, although deprived of much of its natural diet by massive habitat alteration through clearing for agriculture, feeds on P. radiata seeds.Many thanks
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